Coming on the heels of yesterday’s interview with Bobby Hundreds regarding the debranding of Freshjive comes this last collaboration to come to light before Freshjive goes nameless in spring of 2010. Working together with Etnies Plus on the Junior, two models share a very similar design aesthetic with little to no logos or branding and coming in canvas or leather uppers. Sneaker Freaker also did an interview with Rick Klotz regarding his approach behind the partnership and what exactly shoes mean to him.

Well, to be honest, we were surprised when we saw your Freshjive collab. I guess we were expecting something low-fi but probably not so restrained in texture or message. We don’t have a press release or a soundbite from anyone – what’s the story?
To tell you the truth, I’m not interested in collaborations, especially within the ‘market’. I did this because of a very good friend who’s been working at Etnies named Jannio Hidalgo. He used to work for me and he’s a really great guy. I did it because he asked. And the owner, Pierre, is a really cool dude as well. It was an easy process – they asked, showed me what to work from, and I thought that I could design a pair of kicks that I’d wear from what I had to work with. I’m really stoked on the clean design, and it’s a shoe that I’m stocking up to wear for years to come.

With all-black uppers, there’s not a lot we can really say about your shoes. I think it’s safe to say that the model is fairly generic as well. Is there some kind of message we’re missing?
It’s just a shoe. It’s really just all about the aesthetics. There’s not much to say about it. It’s just the subtlety of a very clean design. I hate shit that’s over-designed.

I guess we had an idea that since you’re so outspoken (in a thoughtful way) that the shoes would also speak loudly. Why did you design a shoe that is devoid of classic FJ statements, political or otherwise? I’d have thought this was a great opportunity to let rip?
I’m outspoken in unthoughtful ways as well. I don’t think that the design of a shoe is the arena for political statements or cultural statements. At least not for me. I would wear a t-shirt with a statement, but I don’t want my shoe to make such a statement. IT’S JUST A SHOE.